


seasons

by HomesickAlien



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Dragon Quest XI Act II Spoilers, Gen, Theres the serious tagging, aaaaaaaaact 2 spoils for hotto bam bam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:27:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24946855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomesickAlien/pseuds/HomesickAlien
Summary: Miko’s light is gone.No more does she blaze, sun-bright,Fighting the darkness.But is this the end?Could her flame be rekindled?Could it burn again?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	seasons

**Author's Note:**

> Whatever I felt about there being no fics about Yggdra*** are intensified by 500 that there’s no fics of Miko out there please that’s my emotional support tragic side character.
> 
> I just finished playing Hotto Act 2 twice in a row to collect useless dialogue for my useless writing endeavors so i had to write something stupid to commemorate my wasted time (lol)
> 
> by the way, this goes without saying, but the character death warning applies here.

Those painful howls haunt even her dreams. 

In her arms, her dearest son lays heavy; Numbed by the agony that racks his body. She can no longer disguise such a cursed existence. Though neither fully human nor dragon yet, she can see through the thin veils of her failures. It would not be long before the dragon rises once more, by way of another vessel. The soul of a boy still grasps at life within.

So long as she can feel his heart beat, surely there would be a way… That is all she has to justify her greatest sin. One fabled lie and a hundred souls to be fed, if only she has time she might be able to hold her son in her arms once more. A protective mother’s love that shines even in the darkest hours, enveloped a man still in her eyes a child, and by unwavering will may find refuge in that same accursed place.

In the heart of the volcano, where she buries the proof of her deception, so that none shall ever see the becomings of their savior’s cracked porcelain. Allowing him rest before the form of the flame dragon devours him whole; She touches the remnants of his face with bitter eyes, biting her lip so as not to cry. This is the last of her weakness shedding, so that she can guard him from the world and all its cruelness…

She will become the demon, and his hands will stay themself clean.   
  


The truth behind the myths is always most unsettling, and few fairy tales truly end happily. The people celebrate as they mourn, but the truth remains buried where her son is believed to be. They give their prayers to the wrong Gods, her son still walks between life and the after. 

She could read a thousand books and stories of past wisdoms, nothing seems to aid. She had thought she’d finally been given some grace, found a lead in the mirror dangling from her neck, but all her efforts remain in vain. And still, her son weeps.

An unbearable burden presses down on her when she catches those fire red eyes in her own. Proof that he is far beyond her flesh and blood, and yet still she endears herself to him. In her eyes she can still see the infant once held in her arms, now can only be embraced by a pat over his head. 

A hunger satiated is only one more love for her to mourn. Detached so not to falter, yet still a leader who guides lost sheep; If they would only look into her eyes earnestly, they would see who is truly lost. This is only a meek compromise.

Though for a moment, she believes, this isn’t so bad, either. 

Perhaps it is only a delusion, tired of holding out the mirror without hope for a reflection, but as the volcano’s peak falls silent, and the skies clear with stomach full, he, too, finds momentary peace. Though the body writhes even in his dreams, and her hand is unsteady with uncertainties, she wants something to believe in. Anything at all, anything that might allow her to see a smile on his face once more. Despite a mirror dull, her eyes reflection is stronger, the memories that flow through her life’s stream are as genuine as they are disillusioned. 

A peaceful spring breeze, the dawn of a new season, and another pass of the sun… A child who practices diligently, and still laughs at the simplicity, a courageous heart beloved by all… A dragon who is warm and yet so weak, like mother, like son…

She presses her head against the soft fluff of his own, a sigh of harrowing defeat. His breath is heavy, strained. It’s not the sharpness of his teeth she fears, or the flame that retches by the pit of his stomach, but the pain that torments him which tears into her soul. She would give anything to release him, even her own life means nothing to her.

So that it is, she still must live, so as to find it. How to cleanse the mirror’s surface, or how to reach her hands through to the other side; She, too, must hold her head high.

  
The end comes for all humans, a short darkness followed by an endless cycle of rebirth. Of judgement.

Though in her thoughtless sacrifice, she had not conceived such a reunion would come so soon. To give one final farewell to this mortal plane, only to be met with familiar eyes of innocence. It feels too early, and she wishes she could somehow turn him around, to push him back to shore. For him to receive the light of life she could not protect then for him. She genuinely thinks to, reaching forward, hands shaking, but…

But just as in life, just as in death, the love of a mother for her child is all too selfish. 

To be able to hold him once more, the flesh of a human grown, it feels like a small gratuity for all that has been lost, and all the sins she must carry. But his hands are warm, warm as the flame of the dragon, yet gentle as her memories of him once were. Even grown, he is but a boy; One who knows nothing, and had believed he would lay in waiting before seeing her once more. Such respite can only be transient, after all. 

Beneath the shadow of the dragon, at the side of her most beloved son, the Priestess walks the river bend. She bears her sins not with regret, but with honesty, with acceptance. Even if it might only last a short moment, the bright flame that harbors the soul can never be doused. Her soul finally burns with solace, a reconciliation for the damned, by deep starlit river. 

For she who knows the light of both dragon and man, the ultimate sacrifice, there is nothing left to fear. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, comment, be safe.
> 
> I briefly considered the possibility of the Hero taking on the Dragon Curse after defeating Ryu, but it’s too good for writing after all... I threw it in the trash pile with all the other things I won’t post. (lol) Some other time.


End file.
